March 17, 2012

God tells Abraham to pray for the person he had wronged

Background: Abraham’s wife Sarah had the kind of beauty that turned heads. Since Abraham feared he would be killed on her account and Sarah taken, he told everyone she was his sister, which, like most lies, had some basis of truth. They did indeed have the same father but different mothers, and so they had gotten married. This meant, of course, that Sarah was no longer free to marry someone else, but Abraham left out that important piece of information.

As they traveled into Gerar, Abraham introduced his wife to the king of the region as his sister. That night King Abimelech ordered the beautiful woman to be brought to his palace, but before anything could happen, God appeared to Abimelech in a dream, letting him know that Sarah was already married. Since the king had not slept with her yet, he protested, reminding God of his innocence and Abraham’s deception.

In the dream, God responded, telling Abimelech to return Sarah to her husband and His prophet Abraham would pray for the king. The next day, Abimelech got up early, called his servants together, and told them what had happened. Everyone was terrified and, maybe, horrified! The king then confronted Abraham, who explained his fear and why he had done what he’d done.

Afterwards King Abimelech not only returned Sarah to her husband, he gave Abraham some of his servants, livestock, land, and 1,000 pieces of silver!

“Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and servants,” Genesis 20:17.


Questions: Do our actions ever create potential problems for someone else? Has fear ever caused us to do something we would not have done otherwise? In what way does God want us to set things right, perhaps with an employer, employee, sibling, or spouse?

Prayer: LORD God, help me to be honest with you, myself, and others. Please make me aware of anyone I have wronged in any way, and help me to make amends. Thank You, Father of All, for Your ongoing forgiveness and love.

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© 2012, Mary Sayler, all rights reserved.

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